Camino de Santiago. We had arrived after 13 days on the road. The hostel part of Hotel Linares was down a staircase. I expected to be in the basement but because the site was on a slope, there was a door with direct access to the street. The helpful receptionist gave us keys to the door and to large lockers for our gear.
The hostel was clean, bright and modern. A central common area with stove, fridge, microwave, kitchen utensils, table and chairs between two dormitories with three double bunks in each. Men’s and women’s bathrooms down a short passage. The men’s only had one shower, basin and toilet – luckily the hostel was not full. Washer and drier available but at 4euro a load I thought I could do without using them.
We claimed lower bunks, changed into dry clothes and set out for a short exploration of Santiago. The narrow, windy streets of the old city make for interesting navigation. Many streets converge like the delta of a complex river system as one approaches the Cathedral. Until I found some recognisable landmarks, it was easy to take the wrong street when returning to the hostel.
Santiago
We found a traditional restaurant in the old town centre and had a late lunch. I had Octopus and Bacaleu, wine and coffee.
Santiago street 
Octopus 
Bacaleu
After lunch, Gabriella went to buy some “pantalons” to replace a pair she had left behind at one of the Albergues on the road. She had also lost a small blue bag – much panic until she realised that she had not used it to carry her cash, credit card or passport.
I walked around the old streets, found myself at the Cathedral, went inside for a quick look. Then I headed back to the hostel to rearrange my kit, dry my wet clothes and get an early night.
Gabriella came back, she had met up with some pilgrims she had seen on the road and said she was going to have dinner with them and would be back late. As she would have a few days in Santiago waiting for her son, she was not going to get up early the next morning to line up at the pilgrim office. She would move to a different hostel before I got back the next day so we said our goodbyes.
Day 14 of My Camino de Santiago
Wednesday morning, for the first time I did not have to start walking early. However, I did not have the luxury of lying in my warm bed in the hostel. To get my certificate of completion or credencial that day, I needed to be in the queue at the pilgrim office by 7:30 am.
I walked in the dark, arriving at the pilgrim office by 7:00 am to join a line that already stretched halfway back to the next street. I was behind an Australian woman of about 50. She told me that she had walked around 500 km of the much longer Camino Frances three years previously with friends. In 2018, she had done the same route as me with her daughter. Then she told me that she had just walked 160 km on one of the Spanish routes with her 84 year old mother.
With that, her mother came bouncing along and introduced herself. She had been walking up and down the line chatting to pilgrims she had met on the road. An amazingly fit and energetic lady who attributed her fitness and stamina to always having had an active life.
The Pilgrim’s Office
At 8:00 am, the doors opened and the line started moving. The Pilgrim’s office has developed an efficient system to handle the 1000 plus pilgrims who arrive each day for several months of the year. Provided we could show our Pilgrim Credencial with stamps from our stops on the road, we were allowed onto the grounds, around a courtyard and into the building.
Then we entered an enclosed porch or verandha with a ticket machine in one corner and a notice telling us to download an app for our phones so we could go and have coffee and track progress in comfort. I was number 107.
I walked to the nearest cafe, sat at an outside table and ordered a coffee. A relaxing half-hour sitting in the morning sun watching the steady flow of pilgrims arriving at the lengthening queue outside the pilgrim office. Then the app on my phone told me that my number would soon be called so it was back to the office to collect my certificates.
Going through crowds of pilgrims on the porch and in the hall ways, I only waited a few minutes before my number was called. The office staff is augmented by volunteers – mainly pilgrims who have completed their own pilgrimages. Volunteers from all over the world so it is easy to find someone who speaks your language. I was asked where I was from, where I had started, and why I had undertaken the pilgrimage. My credencial was carefully checked to ensure I had walked at least 100km and my Compostela (certificate) was signed. I was also offered a larger, more ornate Compostela because I had said my pilgrimage was religious and spiritual.
It is a slick operation, within a few minutes I was out of the building clutching my certificates and heading back to the same table at the restaurant for breakfast. I ordered a ham sandwich it was the biggest ham sandwich I had ever seen and delicious.
As can be seen in the photo below, the credencial is no longer in the pristine state when I got the first stamp at the start of the Camino de Santiago two weeks earlier in Porto.
Filled Credencial & Compostela 
Ham Sandwich Breakfast
Exploring Santiago
The rest of the day was spent exploring Santiago. Because of the credit card pin fiasco, I was rapidly running low on cash. Fortunately I had received a new pin by email so I set off to buy a few presents to take home. At the first shop I tried to tap the card, it failed and then the new pin would not work either. I phoned my bank and they told me not to use tap in a foreign country, just use the pin. From then on I had no problem and was able to buy a few presents.
The next morning, I would have to catch the bus to the airport at 7:00 am. A helpful woman with excellent English at the tourist assistance office gave me a map and showed me the nearest bus stop. It was about 3 km from my hostel so I decided to do a practice walk in the daylight and find out how long it would take.
That was a good idea as roadworks required a small detour which would have been tricky in the early morning darkness. It was a comfortable 20-minute walk in daylight. There pilgrims everywhere, easily identifiable by their backpacks, walking poles or for some, their limping gait. On the way back, I met the young Ukrainian couple I had seen before.
The Cathedral
Then it was back to the Cathedral for a longer visit. There is a huge restoration project underway in the Cathedral. Scaffolding, protective barriers and plastic sheeting make it difficult to appreciate the thrue magnificence of the building. However, I did manage to get to St. James’ (Santiago’s) crypt.
Inside Santiago Cathedral 
Checkerboard floor 
St. James Crypt
The Cathedral was quite crowded with pilgrims, local and foreign tourists. The Cathedral shop was busy selling religious icons and gifts to commemorate personal journeys on the Camino de Santiago.
My next stop in exploring Santiago was the Convento de San Francico, the first convent to be built in Spain after Saint Francis‘ visit in the 13th Century.
Although the convent is now a hotel, the original church is still in excellent condition and open every day to visitors. The side altars, statues, icons and paintings are magnificent.
By early afternoon I was wandering through the old city when I heard the entrancing sound of “La Vie en Rose” echoing off the walls and filling the arcades with music evocative of Edith Piaff’s husky voice. I followed the sound and found myself in the Praza Cervantes. Sitting on a stool in front of the fountain was a young woman playing her accordion. She had a repertoire of WWII and 50s pieces.
There was a cafe selling portions of Pizza, I bought two pieces with anchovies and olive topping and a beer. Sitting at a small table, listening to music, eating pizza, drinking a beer and writing in my notebook, I understood why Hemingway and other great writers came to Spain to write. It was a magical experience.
After that pleasant interlude, I wandered around the narrow streets and open piazzas, bought a few more gifts and strolled back to the hostel. Bas and Muna invited me to join them for a coffee and light supper so we walked back to find a restaurant. They were young, energetic and eager to make the most of the evening. Older and with an early start the next day, I elected to go back to the hostel, pack my gear and prepare for the next morning’s walk to the bus terminus,
A new guest had arrived, Jean Mari – a 74 year old Frenchman who had just finished his fifth Camino de Santiago despite having been unable to walk after back surgery a few years previously. He proudly showed me an x-ray photo of part of his spine with more metal plates and screws than a hardware store shelf.
Day 15 of my Camino de Santiago
Up at 5:45, a quick cup of tea and on the road by 6:00 am. Found my way to the bus terminus easily after the previous day’s trial run. Got on the first bus to the airport.
A less than friendly check in official at the airport refused to let me take my pack on board as carry on luggage so a quick rearrangement of walking poles was needed. In the rush, I forgot to remove my book to read on the plane. My pack was checked all the way to my next stop in Birmingham UK, so I would not be able to retrieve it during my stopover in Madrid.
While waiting to board, I recognised a pilgrim from the pilgrim’s office the day before, we got talking. Katey was a 70 year old Australian woman who had started walking in France on 26 August, she got to Santiago with a few days in hand before her flight so she decided to walk on to Finisterre. She had walked 1200 km in total in just under two months, It made my 250 km seem like a minor hike.
I counted out my last few euros, after paying 3 euro for the bus, I had 8 euro for a coffee and pastry breakfast. With careful budgeting, my cash had been sufficient and with a working credit card at last I could buy lunch and a bottle of wine at the Madrid duty free.
That was the end of my Camino de Santiago, but not the end of the adventure. I’ll wrap it up in the next post.
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